Winsford United 3, New Mills 1: A HEAVY pitch did not prevent the Blues turning in one of their best performances of the season against a side that is one of the form teams of the moment.
Reverting to a 4-4-2 formation strengthening the midfield - last week's poor performance at Nelson became a fading memory.
The visitors had the best of the early minutes with Damien Morrison firing just wide of Michael Langley's goal and it took a while for Winsford to adjust to the underfoot conditions.
Soon enough the Blues took control and scored the first goal on 22 minutes. Mark Quinn was having one of his best games in a Blues shirt and whipped in a cross from the right. Joe Boyle in the visitor's goal spilled the ball and Rick Arnold was on hand to turn it over the line in true goal-poacher's style.
The hosts continued to press but the closest they came to adding to the tally was when Quinn's free-kick on the left rattled the post but the ball was cleared by a startled defence.
The second half continued in much the same vein but the visitors were looking dangerous on the break with their quick and skilful forwards. Stuart Wellstead probably doesn't score as many goals as he should but when he does score they are usually spectacular.
Such was the case with his effort on 57 minutes when he collected the ball far out on the left, passed a couple of defenders, teed the ball up for his right foot and sent in a vicious curling shot which found the top right-hand corner of the net.
New Mills continued to threaten the home goal and reduced the arrears on 71 minutes when substitute Wale Ajet headed home from close range. At one time, heads would have gone down but they are much more mature nowadays and five minutes later they restored their two-goal advantage.
Substitute Kieron Durkan judged his through ball perfectly for Quinn to run onto and, with the visitors' defence appealing for offside, he coolly chipped it over the head of the advancing Boyle. Winsford might well have added to the score towards the end but Boyle kept the score at 3-1.
WINSFORD: Langley; Quinn; Robinson (Durkan 65); Arnold; Drohan; Hopley; Chambers; Wellstead; Marsh; Sturridge (Cheetham 80); Hughes. Team Rating: 2 Match Rating: 3 Attendance: 104 Man of the Match: Mark Quinn, superlative display.
Next Best: Rick Arnold, back to his best.
